As a lover of sitcoms, I decided to carry out my data collection on various factors that I would think are important when considering the overall quality of any given episode. My goal was to perform a deep dive investigation into the various factors that impact the success and the perceived quality of a sitcom. The following report is my attempt to fulfill that goal. It explores a variety of factors, including a possible ‘confound’ in my perception of episodes, the effect of longevity on a show’s quality, the typical themes explored in episodes, and the main focus of episodes.

A GIF of a Brooklyn 99 character saying one of his catchphrases
A GIF of a Brooklyn 99 character saying one of his catchphrases

The Confound of Father Time?

First, I wanted to see whether my own judgement could be swayed depending on what day of the week it was.


A bar graph examining how funny I rate episodes based on what day of the week it is, compared to my overall average funniness rating
A bar graph examining how funny I rate episodes based on what day of the week it is, compared to my overall average funniness rating


I was somewhat surprised by just how unsurprising these results were. Completely subconsciously, I seemed to find episodes funnier on Fridays and Saturdays - days I tend to be in a better mood - than on any other day, and more funny than I would typically find an episode in general. The results from Sunday and Monday were unexpected to me, but are not implausible. I tend to be in the worst mood on Sundays, as I dwell on the week ahead, and slightly happier on Mondays, as I am at least one day down through the week. It should be noted that the results from Thursday are not at all reliable, given that they are based on just one episode and this episode was uncharacteristically serious for the show in question.

I think it’s really interesting that the way we judge a TV show can be influenced by something as simple as the day of the week. Considering how resounding the results were regarding my obvious bias on Fridays and Saturdays, I may genuinely take this on board and only start new shows on Fridays and Saturdays in the future!


A meme about what day of the week is best to watch a show
A meme about what day of the week is best to watch a show


Do Shows Overstay their Welcome?

A common sentiment among fans is that even very good shows can come to ‘overstay their welcome’. I wanted to see whether this was true, using both my subjective opinion and the more ‘objective’ measure of critics’ scores, and to see whether this effect could be show-dependent.


A set of boxplots comparing two shows’ scores between Season 1 and Season 6, using my own scores and critics’ scores out of 10
A set of boxplots comparing two shows’ scores between Season 1 and Season 6, using my own scores and critics’ scores out of 10


I think there are a few interesting takeaways from this graph:

Overall, it seems as though the idea of ‘overstaying one’s welcome’ is quite show-dependent. For Brooklyn 99, critics seemed to think that the show became better over time, and I also found that the show never quite ‘nailed’ an episode until later in its run. For Modern family, however, both critics and I found the episodes were more likely to be worse in Season 6 than Season 1, implying the show was indeed running out of steam the longer it went on.


A gif of a Modern Family actor saying it’s time to go home
A gif of a Modern Family actor saying it’s time to go home

What’s it All About?!

Next, I wanted to know what sitcoms episodes are most often about - are these shows simply mindless comedy, or are they deeper than that?

A bar graph showing the top 10 words I used to describe the theme of episodes, and how often they occurred
A bar graph showing the top 10 words I used to describe the theme of episodes, and how often they occurred


The top 10 most commonly occurring words shown in the graph seem to suggest that there is indeed depth to the themes of sitcom episodes. The most common word, “others”, suggests that themes often centre on how to treat other people. Anecdotally, this definitely sounds accurate. Similarly, other common words include “new” and “beginnings”, suggesting that episodes about learning how to cope with change or new situations are also common in sitcoms. Finally, the other most commonly occurring words “love”, “loved”, and “accepting” further imply an emotional depth within the themes of sitcom episodes. However, it should be noted that, considering my sample size of 51 episodes, none of these words truly occur that commonly, with the most common word occurring in only 6 episode theme descriptions. Additionally, some of these words may represent double-up episodes - for example, based on the words in the graph, it is plausible to conclude that “doing your best” is a common theme. As such, episodes focused on more emotional topics seem like they may be the exception rather than the rule.

Overall, from this graph, an appropriate conclusion is that sitcoms certainly do not avoid deep themes, but they are not entirely touchy-feely – at the end of the day, after all, they are still comedies.

Wit or Warmth – What’s the Focus?

Finally, as a little bonus, I wanted to confirm the findings I inferred from my last graph – that sitcoms are more about comedy than they are emotion.


A density graph showing the distribution of funniness scores and emotional rating scores
A density graph showing the distribution of funniness scores and emotional rating scores


I think this graph indicates two interesting things: first, the funniness ratings have a much more obvious peak than the emotional impacting ratings, and second, the spread of the emotional impact ratings is much larger than the spread of funniness ratings. I think the peak of the funniness graph ultimately indicates that funniness is the most important element of what makes a sitcom successful, as episodes are genuinely funny for the most part. With this in mind, it does not seem surprising that a large portion of episodes are not particularly emotional. However, I do find it interesting that it was more likely for an episode to receive a 10 for emotional impact than for funniness. As such, I think this graph very much backs up the findings I inferred from my third graph: funniness is generally more important, but that does not mean that individual episodes cannot have a lot of heart.

In conclusion

Overall, I have learned a lot about what influences the quality and structure of an average sitcom. From the time of the week the watcher watched, to the season, to the theme, to the balance between humour and emotion, there is a lot that goes into how a sitcom is perceived. I’m very glad that I was finally able to perform the sitcom deep dive I always wanted to perform, and to have emerged with findings that I genuinely find interesting.

A collage of sitcom characters with text thanking you for reading
A collage of sitcom characters with text thanking you for reading